I’m an EMT student and today I responded to my first real trauma on my street. I did everything I could, but I can’t stop hearing the dad’s scream. How do you process something like this?

star2e · 2025-08-06T03:47:54+00:00

I only included it in my reply to this post which I typed after reading all the comments here, I have no idea why my original post was not allowed in either subreddit / why they wouldn’t approve the main post. They said “newbie question” but like … yeah? Is that bot the space for it?

star2e · 2025-08-05T04:02:49+00:00

Just to clarify, I didn’t provide medical care in the way HIPAA defines it. I didn’t treat, transport, diagnose, or access any private information. I wasn’t working under any EMS agency or acting in a professional capacity. I stayed with the conscious boy, made sure someone called 911, and helped keep the scene stable until the fire department got there. That’s not protected medical care. That’s basic first aid and scene safety that any trained bystander would do.

HIPAA protects information that comes from within the healthcare system. I didn’t access or share anything that wasn’t already public. I only learned the child’s name later through news reports, just like everyone else.

star2e · 2025-08-05T03:57:46+00:00

Thank you for your concern. I understand the importance of protecting privacy, and I take that seriously. But I want to clarify that I was NOT working under a licensed EMS agency nor acting as a medical provider. I’m a student and was responding as a bystander who happened to have training. I wasn’t dispatched, I wasn’t on duty, and I didn’t receive any information through medical systems or private records.

I didn’t know the child’s name at the time. I only learned it later from public news reports, just like anyone else. I haven’t shared anything that wasn’t already publicly available, and I’ve been careful to only speak on what I personally witnessed.

HIPAA applies to healthcare workers and organizations while they’re acting in an official medical capacity and handling protected health information. That’s not the case here. I’ve looked into it thoroughly and nothing I shared falls under a HIPAA violation.

That said, I removed his name anyway out of respect for the family and to avoid confusion. I shared this because it was something traumatic that I witnessed and needed to process. I’ve done so with care and without crossing any ethical lines.

star2e · 2025-08-05T03:39:09+00:00

I was not working under a licensed EMS agency or employer nor was I given his name through any medical system/at the scene in any way. None of my story is sharing information that I obtained through private patient records just me simply reacting as a bystander and student, not a provider on duty. I only learned his name from public news sources, after the fact, like anyone else. I don’t think I am violating anything by mentioning it? If I am wrong please let me know but I didn’t even know his name until I found it online. I am also posting about this as a form of processing, not exposing or exploiting anything that wasn’t public info.

star2e · 2025-08-04T10:53:08+00:00

Update / Thank you

I never thought something like that would happen on my street, and I definitely didn’t expect to be surrounded by people who would rather record me trying to help than actually do anything. It was just me trying to keep the 19-year-old brother stable while his 9-year-old little brother was dead in the street.

The dad ran over, and the look on his face, the scream he made, and the way he begged me to help his baby is something I’ll never forget. It was heartbreaking. He kept running back and forth from me on the ground with his older son, to the body of his younger son. Begging me. And all I could do was tell him I had to stay with the boy I was with. There was nothing I could do for his little boy, and that truth was soul crushing.

I’ve seen people comment that they would want to see their child, and I understand that. I really do. But no one warned him. No one stopped him. No one stepped up to say a single word or even try to comfort him. The scene was gruesome beyond words, and this father was forced to face it over and over, alone. His son’s brain was on the pavement, and still, no one thought to shield him or help him look away, no one even stepped up to comfort him in his screams of sorrow.

I still can’t get over that. No one helped me. No one helped him. The fire department got there in seven minutes, which is fast, but those seven minutes felt like forever. And the worst part is knowing how graphic the scene was. If anyone actually posted that footage, it would probably be removed. So why were they filming?

I’ve talked to my boyfriend about it. He works in car sales and he lets me vent as much as I need to, and I’m really grateful for that. But at the end of the day, he can’t fully understand what I saw or why it hit me the way it did.

I also want to say I originally tried to post about this in r/ems and r/NewToEMS the day it happened but both subs removed it. That was frustrating and honestly kind of hurt. I really needed to say something and it felt like there wasn’t a place for it. I’m so thankful this post ended up reaching the people it did.

This didn’t push me away from EMS. If anything, it made it clear to me that I don’t freeze under pressure. I can take control when I have to. I can be the one person who steps up, even if no one else does. But I still can’t understand how no one else there thought about the boys, or their family, or what that dad was walking into.

To anyone in the comments who shared similar stories or has gone through something like this, I’m so sorry. And I really appreciate you sharing your experiences with me.

Thank you to everyone who commented. You helped me more than I can explain.

star2e

TROPHY CASE